Liberty Arts gallery presents an exhibition celebrating illustrators and the graphic arts. The Art of Persuasion features the work of local artists Mimi Bailey, Dwight Cushman and Shery Larson, ranging from original fashion illustrations for the Sacramento Bee, to the new Devil Tell whiskey label for Denny Bar.
Contemporary paintings by illustrators Joel Anderson, Kai Carpenter and Dennis Ziemienski reflect the art styles seen throughout 1900-1950 with an influence of the WPA (Works Progress Administration). This period included persuading Americans to travel to the great outdoors that was being advertised by the automobile and railroad industries, and later influenced by the art boom of the depression.
DENNIS ZIEMIENSKI
19th century entrepreneur Fred Harvey, established a chain of hotels and restaurants with the Santa Fe Railroad, along their route, from Chicago to Los Angeles. The Harvey Girls are the women who worked in these hotels and restaurants.
Commissioned to design the 2006 Derby Image to be used on posters, tickets and promotions, Dennis arbitrarily picked the number 8 to place on the silks (his mother-in-law’s favorite number). As fate would step in, Barbaro wore the number 8 and easily won the race. For horse racing enthusiasts, the Trifecta was printed for all to see, as the “132nd Running” forecasted the Place horse No.13 and the Show horse No. 2 of the race as well.
Called “the most beautiful train in the world” during the 1930s and 40s. The Southern Pacific Railroad designed this locomotive to carry passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Dennis has always been inspired by fruit crate label art. This is a label he created in honor of those great pieces of art.
STEVE & MARIE MAINS COLLECTION
Maire and Steve are drawn to the beauty and idyllic portrayal of life in the citrus empire of the early 20th century. These ephemeral citrus labels, attached to the ends on 100s of thousands of wooden shipping crates, were designed to attract the attention of street vendors and grocers in the midwest and east coast America.
PETER & MARIA HOEY
New York Post; Woman in Politics, Rutgers University Magazine
Illustrators Peter and Maria Hoey work 100% digitally, using computer applications for designing, composing and final color filing. Watch for work from their graphic novel collection in Fall 2020 in Liberty Arts’ Coin-Ip exhibition.
DWIGHT CUSHMAN
In 2002, Bill and Ondia Durovchic purchased the building at 211 S. Oregon Street which included Klander’s. They asked graphic artist and animator, Dwight Cushman to create a logo design, starting with the idea of Joan Jetson infused with the influence of Heavy Metal magazines. Note the development of the modified logo as coffee was later offered at the deli.
MIMI BAILEY
As one of the most-known illustrators in our community, Mimi has work gracing the walls of many local establishments including the celebrity portraits in the Empire Music Hall. As co-owner and artist of the Miner Street Art House, she continues to work in the tradition of brush and ink. Her work is one-of-a-king, and beautifully detailed with the aid of any computer enhancements. Bailey has been commissioned to create the first label set for the Denny Bar Distillery in Etna. This whiskey label if the first in a three-bottle artist series and is titled the Devil’s Tel, from The Crossroads, a multidimensional story highlighting the conflict between good and evil.
SHERY LARSON
Shery strives to depict the inner beauty of her subjects and to emphasize the nobility of the human spirit even in difficult times and situations.
SIERRA NEVADA BREWERY
The Sierra Nevada Art Department in Chico, CA works up concepts for beer labels, marketing campaigns and merchandise. The Brewery has created well over a hundred labels.
Concept sketch are seen above for the Alpha Hops Society beer label and branding campaign, with final design developed into finished art.
Sketch work leading up to the final illustration of the Narwhal beer label. This Melbourne-based illustrator works primarily with the music industry and is predominantly well known for his striking rock posters … internationally he has designed artwork for brands such as Queens of the Stone Age, Metallica, Pearl Jan, Nine Inch Nails, Kings of Leon, Bob Dylan & The Rolling Stones.
Concept to Production
EDDIE MARTINEZ
Concept artist Eddie Martinez’ original sketch and subsequent rendering of the proposed Titanic hotel-casino, which was announced by former Las Vegas casino owner Bob Stupak at a press conference in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 8, 1999.
The proposed $1.2 billion project was planned for the Las Vegas Strip and would feature 1,200 rooms and an “iceberg” housing an 1,800-seat theater.Additional logos below illustrate the detail and specificity of the completed dream as a means to attract investors and media interest.
The project was ultimately rejected by the Las Vegas City Council.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Back story:
To be young and carefree in the idyllic landscape of sun-drenched Italy in the late 1050s; that’s the sweet life Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) craves- and Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) leads. When Dickie’s father asks Tom to bring his errant playboy son back home to America, Dickie and his beautiful expatriate girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), never suspect the dangerous extremes to which Ripley will go to make their lifestyle his own.
Challenge:
Illustrate the triangle of relationships/discomfort/suspense. The resulting tissues here represent artists’ sketched delivered to the Art Director at BLT Communications, in Los Angles. Initials on the tissues are of different artists as they were submitted. Accepted concepts resulted in financial awards to artists and were then developed into different applications- many seen here.
Special thanks to Dwight Cushman for use of his sketch collection.
America the Beautiful
JOEL ANDERSON
“I am an illustrator, designer, author, and the Creative Director / founder of Anderson Design Group. I was born in Denver, Colorado and spent my childhood living in places like Curacao, El Salvador, Texas, New York, South Carolina and Florida. I studied illustration at Ringling School of Art & Design. I draw on a variety of influences for my work, notably 20th-Century travel poster art and advertising art as well as American fold art. When I am not traveling to take reference photography for books or illustrated poster art, I enjoy mentoring and training up-and-coming artists who often become collaborators or full-time staff a Anderson Design Group”.
KAI CARPENTER
Kai grew up in the Pacific Northwest and works from his Seattle studio. Joel recalls the first time he saw Kai’s work: “I felt like I was looking at magazine cover art from the 1930s or ‘40s. Kai’s style and sense of lighting gives his art a look from a bygone era. I knew his paintings would be a great for the vintage-style poster series I was creating.” A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Kai has illustrated for numerous clients including Wizards of the Coast and Harper Collins. Kai draws his inspiration from artists of the late 1800s to the 1940s, particularly the Golden Age illustrators.
The Art of Persuasion will continue at Liberty Arts through November 29, 2019.
Gallery photos by Sharon LoMonaco
